Dying for the Toilet

If you don’t already know, 2008 has been designated the International Year of Sanitation by the UN. Though it may not sound as glamorous as some campaigns you could get involved in, it has to be one of the most important given that 2.6 billion people worldwide don’t have access to even the most basic sanitation, the ramifications of which impact health, education, economic viability for developing countries, and simple human dignity. In short, sanitation is fundamental to human development and if this global problem isn’t addressed soon, then we can kiss goodbye to the aspirations set out in the Millennium Development Goals.

The main speaker will be, Lajana Manandhar from the organization Lumanti, which works in urban areas in Nepal on water and sanitation issues. She founded the organization, and has worked in the water and sanitation sector for more than 12 years and has represented Nepal at the World Water Forum in Mexico 2006.

Sadly, I don’t think these issues hit the radar of most people. It’s not a ‘crisis’ such as flood or famine, so it doesn’t grab the headlines, and it doesn’t command the profile of something such as HIV/Aids, despite the fact that deaths directly related to sanitation and contaminated water supplies are five times higher than those caused by Aids related factors – and we know what a huge global problem that is.

Hopefully this year things will change and the international community will collectively seek to do something more constructive about the issue of sanitation and access to safe water supplies in the developing world.